Although maybe a bit obnoxious that one of those was a song Parsons wrote (“One Hundred Years From Now”), but truly it is no matter. Also, famously McGuinn ended up re-recording vocals over three of Parsons’ lead tracks. The album reveals founding Byrd Roger McGuinn giving up his trademark Rickenbacker jangle in favor of a banjo, evidencing the musical departure as well as anything here. Yes, others will inform you that the album was an instant classic, that it was ahead of its time, that folks didn’t recognize, and wouldn’t recognize Sweetheart for what it was for decades to come … but that just ain’t true, ‘less of course you’re a fan of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and then anything is possible, I suppose. People are going to attempt to tell you that Sweetheart is a landmark album whose influence can’t be overstated, when the truth is, they can be, especially if one connects with what was going down in 1968. Of course everyone points to Sweetheart Of The Rodeo due to the influence of Gram Parsons, and while you can hang me from the tallest tree, I’ve never been one who was able to wrap my head around what Gram was doing, or even his vision, though here, he leaves listeners with that easy going just passing through attitude, where everything stretches out like like a pink and orange sunset. Where on a whole, much of the material is entirely uninspired folk strumming, making for a very uninvolved record that is entirely too easy to listen to, as if it had been created as background songs from the get-go, but hey, the boys were never known, ever, to have delivered a record that was good from the first song to the last. Of course this sentence requires another ‘that said’, as much of the material are cover versions of Bob Dylan, Gene Autry, Woody Guthrie and Merle Haggard songs. That said, the material they’ve chosen, along with the way they perform it is folksy, relaxed and extraordinarily simple. Somehow, the Byrds managed to parlay their folk-rock traditions into some sort of country rock hybrid, and while their new sound didn’t come off like Buck Owens & His Buckaroos, namely because the Byrds weren’t in the same class, their lyrics and musicianship were alright … perhaps a bit pretentious, yet still pretty good.
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